Heeramandi Cast: Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal Mehta, Taha Shah Badussha, Farida Jalal, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, Adhyayan Suman
Crew:
Created by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee, Mahesh Limaye, Huenstang Mohapatra, Ragul Dharuman
Music by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Benedict Taylor, Naren Chandavarkar
Written by Moin Baig(story), Divya Nidhi, Vibhu Puri(dialogues), Sanjay Leela Bhansali(screenplay)
Edited & Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Streaming on Netflix
Number of Episodes: 08
Rating: Parental Guidance advised
Language: Hindi
Heeramandi Web Series Rating: 2.5/5
Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been known for his prowess in larger than life story telling and melodramatic yet poetic narratives. His artistic style has captured imagination many viewers and the flavor he tends to bring with his narrative style has earned him a loyal fan base as well.
His recent successful films like Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, Gangubai Kathiawadi have made him a favorite among young viewers as well. He debuted digitally like many filmmakers, on Netflix with web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Let’s discuss about his dream project in detail.
Plot:
Mallikajaan(Manisha Koirala), chief courtesan of Shahi Mahal, Heeramandi, lives for money and nothing else. She cares for money and forces every other courtesan to attract rich Nawabs. Different Nawabs from elsewhere come to Heeramandi in Lahore to keep them occupied and not wage war against British rulers in 1920’s – 40’s.
Mallikajaan deceives her elder sister, Rehana(Sonakshi Sinha) and her daughter Fareedan(Sonakshi Sinha), chief courtesan of Khwabgah, wants revenge from Mallika. Bibbojaan(Aditi Rao Hydari), daughter of Mallika, is interested in Indian Independence Movement and tries to bring revolution in Heeramandi, too.
On the other hand, Waheeda(Sanjeeda Sheikh), younger sister of Mallika, gets depressed with her life and wants to get out of it. Lajjo(Richa Chadha), foster daughter of Mallika, gets addicted to narcotics and her depression reaches a peak as the series progresses.
Alamzeb(Sharmin Segal Mehta), younger daughter of Mallika too doesn’t like Heeramandi and she falls in love with Nawab Tajdar Baloch(Taha Shah Badussha). As their romance progresses, Heeramandi’s existence gets into question. Why? How will these courtesans react to the threat of this Shahi Mahal? Watch the series to know more.
Analysis:
Firstly, Manisha Koirala has been great in this role as Mallikajaan. Playing a personality who has negative characteristics and convince us to root for her as well is commendable. Sonakshi Sinha is fine at places but never consistent with her performance. Even writing for her character becomes very scratchy and single layered.
The character’s introduction and take off impress us but the way it progresses doesn’t. The motivation for the character is believable but the transformation doesn’t. Sanjeeda Sheikh, Aditi Rao Hydari and Richa Chadha do their best but the writing doesn’t support them. Again, after a point writing deflects into different layers but fails to stick to their stories as much as it should.
Sharmin Segal Mehta and Taha Shah Badussha drag the series down by their performances. While the writing for their characters also becomes weak with each scene, their performance lacks any kind of strength to convince us otherwise. After investing our time in Heeramandi and other characters, suddenly, we are forced to swallow this bitter pill.
The slow pace narrative during this track and the kind of performances, they two have given, both bring down the series completely. Sanjay Leela Bhansali does have this problem and showcased that in his previous films, too.
Here too, Sanjay Leela Bhansali showcases his penchant to create great set pieces. Each and every frame looks like a painting but at the same time, the painting doesn’t really impress us if it doesn’t offer anything other than some good looking colors. The writing just doesn’t reach to the heights that Sanjay wants it to reach even though he has all time to tell his story as he wished.
Somehow, he gets lost in crafting while he tries hard to tell his story, the way he wants. He fails in engaging us after a point and we just end up being disappointed watching the last episode. Overall, this series ends us with a slight bad after taste that we get after eating too much of any item.
Positives:
Production Values
Senior Ensemble performances
Artistic Frames
Negatives:
Boring young romance
Too many deviating threads
High ambition that swallows the narrative
Story doesn’t have engaging emotions
Heeramandi Web Series Bottom-line: Underwhelming Art!